6of6All four major U.S. carriers — AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon — service the greater Houston area.Photo: David Paul Morris / Bloomberg

With the arrival of 5G in Houston and a flurry of holiday shopping deals for buying the latest cell phones, where do you go for a cell phone provider?

We’ve come a long way from paying 50 cents per text message. Deals on cell phone plans are everywhere and you have to balance your budget versus the features you care about most: fast speeds and lots of coverage.

If it’s time to switch, here’s how to pick the provider that’s right for you.

The big four (or is it three?)

AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless are the four biggest carriers in the U.S., and all four provide coverage in Houston. All provide phone plans with unlimited data, talk and text and cheaper plans that include unlimited talk and text but cap the amount of high-speed data a device can use.

You’ll hear a lot about the rollout of consumer 5G by Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon, but most phones still aren’t compatible with the higher-speed network. And the number of competitors is expected to shrink with Sprint and T-Mobile’s future merger, which was approved by the Federal Communications Commission in October but still faces a multi-state antitrust lawsuit.

The big four telecom companies in the U.S. sell budget cell phone plans and also have subsidiaries that sell cheaper plans. You might know them under the names of their original carrier companies — for example, MetroPCS (now Metro by T-Mobile), Cricket Wireless (a subsidiary of AT&T) and Boost Mobile (under Sprint for now).

Independent low-cost providers like Republic Wireless and Consumer Cellular are in the Houston area, and they piggyback on one of the larger providers to use their cell phone towers for coverage.

These bargain plans are good in a couple of scenarios: buying a single line and getting a prepaid plan when money’s tight or you don’t use much data.

AT&T listed an unlimited talk, text and data plan with a 15 GB mobile hotspot per line at $85 per month. Its subsidiary, Cricket Wireless, sells a similar plan for $60 per month.

On the other hand, prepaid plans may cap how much data you have, or the number of minutes or texts that can be used in a billing cycle. Don’t log onto Facebook much, or stream shows on your device? It’s right for you (and I’m envious of your ability to stay off social media).

The fine print might be where the plan gets you. Video streaming, for example, might be throttled at certain speeds or resolutions — meaning you can’t watch the entirety of the Harry Potter series in ultra HD. Other prepaid plans may not allow hotspots for other devices.

What is this?

I’m Gwendolyn Wu, and I’m writing “Houston How To,” a series on how to navigate the city and its complexities. Humans have an innate drive to improve themselves, and we’re always striving to live better, smarter and more efficiently by throwing countless dollars and hours at our problems. The Houston Chronicle wants to simplify that for you.

As a reporter, I usually ask the questions, but I can’t be the only one wondering how something works. What are things you need to know how to do, Houston? You can find me on Twitter at @gwendolynawu or by email at gwendolyn.wu@chron.com.

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To save more money, some plans allow buyers to lease a device or trade in your current phone for a discount on your next device. Some carriers and manufacturers - including Apple - have upgrade plans that let you trade in your existing phone for the latest one. All carriers will let you buy a phone in installments, or purchase it outright. But you don’t need to get a new device to get a new plan.

New cell sites and the deployment of small cells to increase bandwidth in high-traffic areas have boosted speeds in the area, said Charles Bassett, an AT&T spokesperson.

“Our customers in the Houston area are seeing the benefits of the nearly $1.7 billion investment we made in our Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown wireless and wired networks between 2016 and 2018,” Bassett said.

AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon‘s coverage maps show high-speed coverage in the entire Houston metropolitan area, though spotty areas may exist. (Sprint has a few pockets of roaming coverage in and around NRG Stadium, for instance.)

To gauge the accuracy of those maps, go to sites like Ookla to look at data on mobile speeds.

“We all have coverage maps and claims but the best is to go to independent third parties,” said John Stevens, the regional president of Sprint.

Most neighborhoods in Houston see high-quality coverage, according to those maps, but you may run into spots where the coverage is merely “good” or “fair.”

Cell signals might be weaker for a variety of reasons, like materials used in building construction that could hinder service, according to T-Mobile.

Consumers trying to hop on 5G have three options: Sprint, T-Mobile or Verizon, which recently rolled out those networks in Houston. AT&T offers what it calls “5G E,” its glitzed-up LTE network that is not actually 5G, and a by-invitation service that for now is limited to select businesses. Few phones are compatible with 5G at this time.

Doing a trial run on data

Carriers trying to persuade consumers to sign up for their plans may offer free trials if you’re switching from a competitor.

Ask friends and family to share their experiences using each cell phone provider. For example, my boyfriend uses Verizon and humblebrags about his wonderful cell service when we go hiking or travel. (I lost service earlier with T-Mobile and more frequently than he did on a trip to the Grand Canyon this summer.)

Prospective T-Mobile customers can request a “Test Drive.” You receive a mobile hotspot device that you can connect your current phone to and use for up to 30 days or 30 GB of data, whichever comes first.

Sprint launched the “100% Total Satisfaction Guarantee” in early 2019, a 30-day trial of the service that starts upon purchase. Verizon’s 14-day return policy trial lets you test new devices and their data plan.

“If they activate the mobile hotspot feature they can access the network on other WiFi-enabled devices,” said Kate Jay, a Verizon spokesperson.

That trial period has been extended during the holidays through Jan. 15, 2020, according to Verizon.

Gwendolyn Wu writes the Houston How To column and about the business of healthcare for the Houston Chronicle through the Hearst Journalism Fellowship. Prior to moving to Texas, she was a metro reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, where she was part of the award-winning breaking news team that covered the deadly Camp Fire.

Gwendolyn hails from the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles and graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with degrees in history and sociology. She’s an active member of the Asian American Journalists Association. In her spare time, she likes testing new recipes, exploring used bookstores and eating her way through new cities.